In principle, I'm on the side of long hair, but that doesn't really apply to people who fiddle with it. That's the main reason why I voted for buzz cut. However, I also like stroking buzz cuts, and I don't think I'm alone in that, so it might depend on whether you want people flocking to caress your head.

I'm not going to vote, but looking at the texture of your hair on the wedding photo (which is absolutely gorgeous, by the way) I suspect that, like mine, any short style would go *sproing* and look like a fuzzy mop unless you spent ages styling and putting goop in it. Which I'm fairly sure you (again, like me) couldn't be arsed to do.

Word. Heated hair straighteners are essential for short style + wavy hair; bobs in particular depend on looking sharp, and wiggly hair doesn't tend to do that unless bullied into it. Long hair much lower maintenance.

Shave it all off is cool, but are you prepared for the extreme reactions it'll generate? Young women with short hair also get assumed to be lesbians, although if you flash that wedding ring this might be less of an issue for you... (On the evidence of me & a mate's experiences, plus polling various friends.) Suddenly, though, women get to 35 or have kids or whatever it is, and suddenly short hair starts getting read as the default norm, not dykey. Weird.

The other issue with buzz cuts is that, probably, you'll want to grow it back one day. At 6" a year that'll take a long time, particularly given that you'll need to keep getting it styled whilst growing it out so it doesn't look daft. Additionally, are you prepared for the maintenance of very short hair, i.e. shaving it regularly? Cuts 1 & 2 need monthly maintenance at a minimum, I reckon.

I want mine as a chin length bob (I think). I'm achieving this by cutting it off 4 inches at a time and giving myself time to think about it. I may never get down to chin length but I feel sure it will be less of a shock/mistake doing it this way.

I don't think I've had my hair cut in over a year. I found that it went through the "Boy, I really need a trim" stage and into "My, what interesting layering" stage. Of course this is probably more self delusion than objective hair advice. What is an objective fact is that I've saved the time and money it would have taken to get it cut. I also occasionally snip at it when I'm bored and left alone with scissors.

Ooh it's quite fun to try to imagine you with different hair styles. ;-)

Perhaps generally neater or artier would be good but I'm no expert. You could do what Elly did and start with a grade 2 all over then let it grow through lots of possible styles. Hmmm perhaps there is software to do the same thing in a few minutes of clicking.

I like short (boy-hair short) hair on women, and I like long hair on women, and somewhere in between there's a length I have relatively little time for. Not sure why.

I note that the first question's results (as of now, at least) are clearly strongly correlated to length; there seems to be a general feeling that longer is better, or at least more widely acceptable. But the second is much more randomly distributed in details, and mostly seems to be emphasising the idea of not fixing it if it ain't broken :-)

How short hair will work depends very much on the shape of your head and the set of your face. If you have a big nose or a high forehead, for example, short hair can look mildly silly; I can't remember what your nose or forehead look like from an angle where I can tell, though!

Also a good way to tell what you will look like with short hair, is to put on a swimming cap or wind your hair round your head and put a stretchy hairband over it. If you look a lot like Mrs Potato Head in a swimming cap, you will look a little like Mrs Potato Head with short hair. This is based on having met several people who didn't take this into account and then looked at themselves with short hair and said, oh, I wish I'd thought of that.

Boy hair is great -- buy Nicky Clarke hair clippers for £17, save mucho money on haircuts over a couple of years (hell, a single haircut is more than £17 most places for women these days). Mind you, I'm voting for dreads! ;)

A good hairstyle change does actually seem to be a decent way to get the ball rolling on other changes to life and your attitude to it. Well, it's been known to work for me. In fact I've been waiting for inspiration to strike for a new hairstyle for me, but it hasn't yet. Ho hum.

Are you sure this isn't just post-wedding hair related angst? I happened to say something recently along the lines of "The amount of energy I've expended keeping my hair long and conditioned for the wedding has made me want to have it all cut off and dyed orange the day after"I'd be wary of a very short haircut - I've known people who have discovered they have a very strange-shaped head after shaving their scalp - but if you really want to have a radical change of style, you may as well do it now.